No matter who we are or where we came from, there is one hobby that every human has in common and that is to eat. Food is a prevalent part of society, and most social encounters are built around a meal. Who doesn't enjoy fine cuisine and a chance to delight their pallets?! What if I told you the secret to achieving your goal weight is to eat more often. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well guess what, our metabolisms were built to thrive from frequent consumption. Every individual, regardless of their build, size, ethnic background, or fitness aspirations, will benefit from eating six times a day.

Let's make sure we're all on the same page and start with the meaning of metabolism. If you Google the definition of this complex word, you will find many scientific explanations that might as well be written in another language. If you asked our friend Layman, his or her term would simply be the process of food getting converted into energy. One of my favorite explanations is by Robert Yanagisawa, MD, who is the director of the Weight Management Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He says, "The process of metabolism establishes the rate at which we burn our calories and, ultimately, how quickly we gain weight or how easily we lose it." Easy enough, right? Basically, think of your metabolism as your body's engine; you need to keep it properly fueled to ensure it will run smoothly. Many people are quick to blame this mechanism for their diet failures. How many times have you heard a friend say they've gained weight because they have a slow metabolism? The metabolism is not the culprit! Then who is? The owner of the engine! Instead of pointing fingers and looking for an excuse, learn to understand your individual metabolism and fuel it the right way!

With that being said, let's examine how eating six times a day will ensure a healthy relationship between you and your metabolism. First off, you need to turn your engine on early in the morning, and always give it breakfast. This will get it geared up and ready to run all day long. Keep it going with five more mini-meals evenly spread out. These small, frequent eating sessions will keep your engine from running out of gas and from getting over-fueled. In other words, they will keep your energy levels strong, and prevent gorging at the next meal. Your metabolism can only process a certain amount of food at a given time, and this eating regimen will fulfill, not overfill, its needs. When we overeat and provide our body's machine with more than it can handle, it gets overwhelmed, and therefore, the excess food turns into fat. We should eat until we're satisfied, not until we're disgustingly full. (you know the feeling, when you can barely move and wish you could go back in time and relive that restaurant experience) To keep these binge moments under control, eat slowly and savor every bite. It takes around twenty minutes for our stomachs to inform our minds that it is full and that the engine is running at full capacity. Food should always be viewed as fuel and energy for our body, and our freedom to eat should never be abused!

Okay, now that it's clear how this dietary theory facilitates weight loss and management, let's dig deeper into the concept and examine how it assists body builders and those trying to gain weight and muscle. When meals are consumed in smaller and more frequent quantities, our metabolisms have more time to think and focus, and therefore can process the calories more effectively. The consumed food is ensured to digest properly, and all nutrients taken in can be absorbed and utilized to their maximum ability. And by preventing a caloric flood, all ingestion goes to muscle maintenance and repair instead of being stored as.that's right, fat! Obviously, this miraculous plan will fail if these six meals lack proper nutrition, and anyone who's lifting weight and working their muscles needs adequate protein. The muscles deserve to be rewarded and consistently nourished throughout the day.about six times!

Now that you understand your body's inner mechanism, get out there and eat, and keep eating! Your metabolism is begging you to never settle for a number lower than six. You wouldn't forget to put gas in your car; duh, it would stop running. In the same way, don't neglect the engine of your body, and always keep it nutritionally fueled!